Trump’s ICE Agents Take More Criminal Aliens Off Streets, Despite Sanctuary City Protections

( Breitbart )

Despite the lack of cooperation from state and local law enforcement officials, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and officers took hundreds of criminal aliens off the streets of Massachusetts in recent weeks. The latest arrest on Monday involves an Ecuadoran national charged with aggravated rape of a child.

Jose Oswaldo Castro-Castro, a thirty-one-year-old illegal alien from Ecuador, faces several serious sexually related criminal charges that include aggravated rape of a child, a ten-year age difference, and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Despite the serious charges facing Castro and his illegal immigration status in the United States, Castro was back on the streets and had to be located by ICE agents in a Brockton, Massachusetts neighborhood on February 25.

Authorities say Castro illegally entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location, and without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official. The Plymouth County Superior Court in Brockton indicted Castro on April 20, 2023, for aggravated rape of a child, ten-year age difference, and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years of age. He is now in ICE Custody.

Speaking about the latest arrest, Acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde said, “Jose Oswaldo Castro-Castro illegally crossed our borders and appallingly victimized a child in Massachusetts. Castro has done unspeakable damage to our community that we cannot tolerate. Arrests like this only fortify our commitment to our mission of prioritizing the safety of our public by arresting and removing criminal alien offenders from our New England neighborhoods.”

Massachusetts law does not allow state law enforcement authorities to detain an illegal alien for federal immigration purposes longer than necessary for state law enforcement purposes. This means they cannot honor ICE detainers. In addition, sanctuary policies in several cities across the state prohibit local police from cooperating with ICE agents to include information sharing.

In Boston, the city council passed an updated version of a 2014 sanctuary policy known as the Trust Act. The act prohibits law enforcement officers from honoring an immigration detainer filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and limits informal information sharing between local law enforcement officers and ICE agents regarding the whereabouts, detention status, or case information of an illegal alien. The policies make locating and arresting illegal aliens facing serious criminal charges in the state more complicated and more dangerous.

During a one-week targeted enforcement operation in several Massachusetts cities, ICE agents arrested 370 illegal aliens. The operation that took place between March 18-23 was focused on targeting transnational organized crime, gangs, and egregious illegal alien criminal offenders operating in and around Boston and throughout the state. The transnational criminal organizations targeted in the ICE operation included the notorious MS-13 gang, Tren de Aragua, Trinitarios, and the 18th Street gang.

Of the 370 illegal aliens arrested, 205 of those detained had significant criminal convictions or charges. In some of these cases, some of those arrested with prior criminal convictions may been detained by ICE sooner were it not for sanctuary city policies standard across the state of Massachusetts.

It does not appear that the policies will change anytime soon. During a recent hearing held by the House Oversight Committee, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu defended her city’s stance on not helping federal authorities by honoring ICE detainers. In defense of the sanctuary policies in Boston and, in an apparent dig at President Trump, Wu told the committee, “Our local community knows best, and we can tell you, in Boston, over our history, it has not been the word of presidents, or kings, or presidents who think they are kings that sets what happens. It is our residents.”